Most wire or cable wound on a spool or a reel presents a problem. This problem relates to protecting some 30 meters of excess length of cable normally passed through a hole in one of the flanges and left outside of the space where the balance of the cable is wound. This excess length forms a test length required by quality control at the manufacturer and by customers of the manufacturer. The prior art teaches one to store this excess length by coiling it and affixing the coil to the side of the reel with a tape. This renders the coil excess length unprotected and it often gets damaged in use or in transit to the customer. This arrangement is also inadequate because the tape's adhesive weakens and the coil falls free from the flange. The prior art also teaches to create a groove in one of the flanges or to construct a channel on the outside surface of one of the flanges in which the coil is disposed. While this groove or channel is an improvement over using adhesive tape, it is still unsatisfactory because some means has to be used to affix the coil within the groove or channel and this usually results in a coil falling out of the groove or channel in transit or in use, thereby creating the same problem the channel or groove was thought to solve.